User:LRichardson

L Richardson

EIT, Civil Engineering, Chi Epsilon

Hmm. A few words about me? I started playing BT in 1988, played it pretty intensely until around 1994. I could be described as a rules tinkerer, I have always been interested in making / re-writing rules to games. I started when I was about 9 when I had a copy of Risk that I bought at a garage sale for a quarter but it had no rulebook. So, I made rules. : ) Same thing for BT, I was always tinkering with rules sometimes just trying to be a bit more realistic, sometimes trying to smooth game play out, sometimes making new source material and often just trying to ponder tech or other bits of kit. Even though I haven't played the game in many years (1995? 1996?) for some reason I am still frequently pondering BT rules changes / modifications when I am bored.

Professionally I worked at a low level in IT for some years back in the 1990's before deciding to go back to school in 2004 to get an engineering degree. Battletech and it's mech creation rules were a big influence in my childhood towards engineering in general. I was always trying to figure out just how a real such machine would be designed. Now with a Civil Engineering degree with a Mechanical Engineering minor, I still find myself pondering the same things about the BT rules. Oftentimes in classes I would be trying to apply what I was learning to some rule or idea about BT; other times I would just be trying to distract myself from a particularly boring lecture. When I was trying to figure out how to use various software, everything from word processors to spreadsheets to calculation suites to publishing and graphics suites I would use BT as a base material to fill in and experiment with. Obviously if Battletech has worked itself into my psyche that much, maybe I should feed the beast a bit again, so here I am.